Category: RKBA

Illinois Firearms Legislation Could Compel Gun Owners to Self-Incriminate

Firearms owners in Illinois are grappling with a series of constitutionally questionable gun laws. These extend beyond the legal challenge against the ban on semi-automatic weapons and their magazines, a case that has progressed through the southern and northern districts and now resides in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The controversy also touches on a potential violation of the 5th Amendment due to compulsory registration that firearm owners must complete.

The regulation in question doesn’t merely ban certain types of semi-automatic firearms and their magazines; it also obliges owners to register these items. This mandatory registration is due to start in October.

The alleged 5th Amendment infraction stems from the obligation imposed on Illinois gun owners to register by January 1, 2024. This mandate requires gun owners to provide the State with an inventory of all their newly outlawed firearms, including all “prohibited” semi-automatic guns and components. Essentially, the state of Illinois appears to be coercing its gun owners into self-incrimination, thereby undermining the 5th Amendment rights of American citizens.

The 5th Amendment asserts that no individual should be forced to answer for a serious crime unless indicted by a grand jury, among other protections. This amendment also guards against self-incrimination and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Lawyer Thomas Maag plans to file a legal challenge against the state of Illinois, citing the 5th Amendment. He voiced concerns about the forthcoming registration process, stating, “We’re really concerned when this whole registration period starts if it’s not previously enjoined, that, with the vagueness, with a whole host of issues, people would be incriminating themselves.”

Though Maag previously filed a 5th Amendment argument in the Southern District, it was deferred, and the law remains in effect. However, he intends to resubmit the challenge, with the aim of safeguarding gun owners from self-incrimination and potential criminal implications if they fail to register. The issue is likely to work its way through the courts, potentially leading to a temporary injunction against the registry element of the law before it takes effect in October.

Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves?

On Monday, July 17th, Lance Logan brutally murdered 64-year-old Carolyn Williams in her Hartford, Connecticut, home while she was on the telephone with a 9-1-1 operator. He also beat her 30-year-old son.

“He hit me again . . . . Stop it, stop, it, he has a weapon,” she told the 9-1-1 operator immediately before being murdered. Logan had prior convictions for domestic violence and a number of other felonies. Among his previous convictions was a 2016 domestic assault for which he faced a 5-year suspended sentence and 3-years probation, so he served no prison time.

Logan now faces charges of murder, assault in the second degree, and violation of a protective order. It was illegal for him to own guns, but he still obtained two firearms – a sawed-off shotgun and a pistol.

The case clearly illustrates the limits of protective orders when someone is intent on murdering the victim. If the murderer is willing to risk a life sentence for murder, an additional five years in prison and a $5,000 fine won’t deter him.

It is an important problem. Reportedly, 76% of women murdered by someone who had been an intimate partner were stalked.

Violence prevention advocates recommend a long list of safety precautions. These changes require women to uproot their lives.

Among the advice: women should change jobs, travel routes, the time of day they leave home or work, move in with a friend or family, change the locks on their home, or do their shopping and other chores with friends or relatives.

A few recommend that women practice martial arts such as judo, jiu-jitsu, karate, or boxing.

But the most obvious answer is missing from these lists: women should get a concealed handgun permit and a firearm.

As a victim of domestic violence who has suffered some broken teeth, fractured bones, and other permanent physical injuries, I am acutely aware of how important it is to protect victims.

Men are typically much stronger than women, particularly in upper body strength. Unfortunately, real life isn’t like the movies, where one woman can knock out and overpower several well-trained men. Even well-trained women often struggle to defend themselves against much larger and stronger men. Men also tend to be faster runners.

A firearm represents a much bigger change in a woman’s ability to defend herself. Men can readily hurt women without a gun, and if a woman is already in physical contact with the attacker so that he can take away their gun, they are already in trouble.

The peer-reviewed research shows that murder rates decline when people carry concealed handguns, whether men or women. But a woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about 3 to 4 times more than a man doing the same.

And this message is getting across to women. Between 2012 and 2022, in states that provide data by sex, concealed handgun permits increased 115% more quickly among women than among men. The percentage of women who say that gun ownership protects people from crime has also been growing faster. But while they are growing at a faster rate, women still only make up about 30 percent of permit holders.

Many states could make it much easier for stalked women to defend themselves. Even after taking the required training and applying for a permit, it can often take two to three months for a permit to be issued.

But even one month may be much too long for a threatened woman. Even women who have proven to a court that they face serious threats must wait to get a permit. One solution would be to allow women with court orders of protection to carry a concealed handgun while waiting for a permit to be issued.

Many single women with children may also find it difficult to pay fees for a permit, plus additional fees for fingerprinting and training. While there are now 27 Constitutional Carry states that don’t require people pay fees or waiting periods to be able to carry a gun, other states such as California can run $250 to $250 for five years, Illinois $150, and New York City $566.70. Training can easily add hundreds more.

Police are very important, but they almost always arrive after the crime occurs. Protective orders can help. But if we are going to be serious about protecting women like Carolyn Williams, we must let them protect themselves.

Comment O’ The Day

I don’t trust information about studies unless a link is given to read the study or a title of the study is given so that it can be found. Behind this study is Cynthia Miller-Idriss. She’s the same person who claims “Physical fitness has always been central to the far right.”

Everytown

Our new study with @splcenter found that young people with easier access to guns tended to hold stronger beliefs that the government is restricting our freedoms and that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to overthrow the government.

Moros Kostas

You guys are really telling on yourselves with this one. Gun rights bother you at least in part because they promote small government views.

Government, almost by definition, DOES restrict our freedoms. Those polled aren’t wrong in the least for seeing it that way. The constant struggle is keeping this necessary evil contained to the minimum required for a functioning society.

Orgs like Everytown are part of a broad spectrum of authoritarian social engineers. They want people to be docile, preferably stuffed into cities, owning nothing, and restricted to a narrow overton window of acceptable opinions and lifestyles. The Chinese social credit system is their model.

Guns are a threat to this (as is free speech, which is why that is also a target for them). Not even really guns themselves, but the individualist ideas they can awaken simply by accepting the natural right to bear arms. Because once you accept the natural rights framework, the Bloombergian government dystopia they want is unacceptable.

Notice how the very same people who want to ban guns also tend to want social media to censor more speech, want the government to tax everything they declare undesirable, want to punish thought crimes with a widening net of “hate speech” restrictions that shutter the overton window, and constantly find new things they want banned.

This is also why they insist on federal gun laws. They know Boise or Manchester are doing just fine with minimal gun control laws, which drives them insane. It proves the problem in their violent cities is their own fault, and not due to gun rights. The authoritarians can’t allow such counterexamples to exist.

Control, control, control. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Also, if people polled really said the 2A grants the right to overthrow govt, that’s nonsense. But I wonder if what they meant (these are young laypeople, after all) was that the 2A exists in part as a failsafe against a govt that has gone tyrannical. Because that is absolutely correct.

 

Worth repeating….

“30-40%” who are willing to tell a stranger over the phone that they have guns” just doesn’t punch quite right as a headline.

Boom: Up to 60% of Americans could own guns, twice estimate

A surge in “quiet gun owners,” much like the so-called “silent majority” in political circles, is leading firearms analysts to believe that far more Americans own weapons than the accepted 30% cited in polls.

At the highest end, it’s possible that up to 60% of Americans own guns, especially with the pandemic-era rise in gun buying among women and minorities, especially in suburban and urban areas.

At the lowest end, it’s likely that at least 40% of Americans own guns, according to a groundbreaking study of those who lie to pollsters about firearms.

The study from Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center is spreading like wildfire in the industry, which for years has tried to accurately estimate United States gun ownership and determine why polls show support for gun control, but then there is little follow through when legislation is proposed.

Reason Magazine’s J.D. Tuccille put part of the study in the spotlight in an early July post that began the buzz in the gun industry about the potential of far higher U.S. gun ownership.

He highlighted the study’s conclusion that nearly a third of those polled might be lying when they deny having a firearm.

 

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“Why do you need AR-15s?”

Home invaders pretended to be Gwinnett police, tossed grenades into homes, police say

After a series of home invasions involving suspects impersonating police officers, Gwinnett County police arrested one of potentially several suspects connected to the crime spree.

Three families were victimized by multiple masked men armed with guns and body armor during home invasions in Lilburn and Norcross from June 9 to June 12, according to police. In the first case, the suspects threw a practice grenade through a window to enter the home and ransack the house.

“Whatever they were looking for,” the victim, who asked to remain anonymous, told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson. “I hope they find prison time for their trouble.”

The victim shared a video of a man with a mask, a shotgun and body armor at his doorstep in Lilburn off Burns Road on June 9 just after 3:30 a.m. He said the man identified himself as police but threw the inert grenade through the window when the victim didn’t answer the door. From there, police say the suspect, working with others, stole electronics when they couldn’t find any money or drugs.

“They actually sprayed mace around the perimeter of the door and underneath it to try and get me out or prevent me from coming out,” said the victim.

On Tuesday, Gwinnett police arrested Jeron Hernandez-Massa, 23, and charged him with 10 felonies, including three counts of home invasion. However, investigators say he didn’t act alone.

At a home in Norcross, a pregnant mother and her family were held at gunpoint by Hernandez-Massa and as many as four other suspects claiming to be D.E.A. agents, according to police. There were 8-year-old, 4-year-old, and 10-year-old boys home at the time and police say Hernandez-Massa and the suspects threaten to harm the children if the family didn’t give them money and drugs.

“My stepdad is a construction worker,” said one of the family members held at gunpoint. “My mom was just a pregnant lady. They left with nothing, and they hurt us.”

The family says they told the robbers they had the wrong house and that there weren’t drugs or money around. It only made them more upset, they say.

“I ran into the garage and that’s when they hit me,” said the victim, adding she was left bruised from being pistol-whipped.

Police haven’t said how many more suspects they may be looking for or how they believe the homes were targeted. Hernandez-Massa remains in jail without bond.

The 38th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC 2023) will be held September 22nd – September 24th, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ.
This year’s theme is Road To Liberty!

The conference will be held at:
Marriott Phoenix Airport
1101 North 44th St
Phoenix, AZ 85008

You can book your hotel room with our exclusive low group-rate by following this link.

We will also be on multiple virtual platforms including YouTube and Facebook. 

 

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Florida judge tosses gun possession cases now that permitless carry is in effect

On July 1st, it became legal in Florida for lawful gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without the need for a government permission slip. While the start of permitless carry hasn’t led to the state devolving into the Wild West or an anarchic dystopia, it has left courts around the state wrestling with what to do about those individuals who were arrested and charged with carrying without a license before the new law took effect.

On Tuesday, an Orange County courtroom was the setting for both a judge and prosecutors to throw out more than a half-dozen cases, though not every defendant is in the clear.

In a rapid-fire hearing Tuesday, an Orange County judge dismissed five cases of people charged with illegally carrying a concealed firearm that began before Florida’s new permit-less carry law took effect, while prosecutors opted to drop charges against two others.

The seven total decisions were made in a nine-minute span, with prosecutors and defense attorneys mostly referring to written arguments and saying little out loud.

Judge Mark Blechman did not give a reasoning when announcing his decision, but the few questions he asked suggested he was following the guidelines set out by the new law.…

So far, attorneys said Orange County’s court system has acted similarly to a roulette wheel, with attorneys getting different outcomes in each court room they argue in.

“I have about five pending right now with motions in various divisions,” Kathleen Gillard, whose client was among Blechman’s dismissals, said. “One judge still has it under advisement. I had watched a hearing last week where another judge granted somebody’s motion.”

Many attorneys have not yet asked their judges to dismiss their cases. Attorney Roger Weeden speculated it was because they were waiting to see how the early rulings would go. It’s estimated that there are hundreds of charges pending in various stages of the court system in Orange and Osceola counties alone.

Weeden said he himself had a half dozen cases he was working to offload, and hoped Tuesday would begin a domino chain.

“The judges are all going to be mindful of what the other judges are doing,” he explained.

Though prosecutors dropped the charge of carrying without a permit in two cases, both defendants are still facing charges for more serious crimes, according to State Attorney Monique Worrell.

The action by Judge Blechman seems like the most appropriate course to take. If the actions of those defendants were against the law when they were arrested, but the law now allows them to legally carry, what benefit is served by bringing them to trial or even offering them a plea deal in exchange for admitting guilt? The criminal justice system in this country is plagued with inefficiency and an over-reliance on plea bargains as it is, and clogging up courtrooms with non-violent, possessory carry cases that are no longer a crime is a terrible use of taxpayer dollars and the finite resources of prosecutors, public defenders, and the judiciary, not to mention a nightmare when it comes to protecting civil rights.

It’s unclear how many of the “hundreds” of outstanding cases around the state are purely possessory in nature, but there’s no reason why judges and/or prosecutors can’t dismiss the charges of carrying without a license while keeping any underlying charges in place. Florida’s criminal justice system, like its legislature, should be focused on delivering consequences for crimes of violence, not fueling infringements on our fundamental right to bear arms that have since been wiped off the books.

St. Louis and D.C. Show Gun Control Isn’t About Public Safety

With many prominent government officials exhibiting a flagrant indifference to violent crime, it’s getting harder for anti-gun politicians to pretend that their gun control schemes are anything other than a means to harass law-abiding gun owners. Recent incidents from anti-gun jurisdictions St. Louis and the District of Columbia further illustrate this point.

According to the station, Jones texted her father, “Chicago has strict gun laws as well but that doesn’t deter gun violence.” Jones put more faith in social programs, texting, “It’s about investing in the people.”

These once-private comments are a stark contrast to Jones’ public statements and actions. Jones is a co-chair of billionaire Michael Bloomberg front-group Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns (MAIG). MAIG, along with Moms Demand Action, are part of the Bloomberg gun control conglomerate Everytown for Gun Safety.

The mayor also supported a “federal Red Flag law.” As enacted, red flag laws empower the government to confiscate a law-abiding person’s firearms without due process.

As NRA-ILA has repeatedly pointed out, despite having some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, the District of Columbia has exhibited little interest in prosecuting those who misuse firearms.

A December 2021 study from the federal enclave’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) found that “In Washington, DC, most gun violence is tightly concentrated.” The report went on to explain,

This small number of very high risk individuals are identifiable, their violence is predictable, and therefore it is preventable. Based on the assessment of data and the series of interviews conducted, [National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform] estimates that within a year, there are at least 500 identifiable people who rise to this level of very high risk, and likely no more than 200 at any one given time. These individuals comprise approximately 60-70% of all gun violence in the District.

According to the report, “Approximately 86 percent of homicide victims and suspects were known to the criminal justice system prior to the incident. Among all victims and suspects, about 46 percent had been previously incarcerated.” Further, “most victims and suspects with prior criminal offenses had been arrested about 11 times for about 13 different offenses by the time of the homicide.”

Data in a 2023 D.C. Sentencing Commission report revealed that out of a total of 5,558 MPD arrests for carrying a pistol without a license (CPWL) made between 2018 and 2022, 56.6% (3,146 cases) were “no papered” (“the prosecuting authority… elected not to immediately file charges in Superior Court related to the arrest”) or were closed without a conviction. Only 97 cases (1.74%) ultimately resulted in a prison sentence. The figures on arrests and dispositions for “unlawful possession of a firearm” (UPF) offenses show the odds in favor of lawbreakers were pretty good, too. Out of 2,149 total arrests made for UPF crimes in the same time period, the majority (62.6%, or 1,346 cases) were “no papered” or closed without a conviction. Of the remaining cases that resulted in a conviction and sentencing for UPF, only 14.5% (312 cases) concluded with the offender behind bars.

Sometimes an individual case can illustrate an issue better than a mountain of statistics.

On July 5, a high school social studies teacher visiting the federal enclave from Kentucky was shot to death on Catholic University’s campus during a robbery. At least some of the incident was captured by surveillance cameras. Police announced on July 11 that they had arrested a suspect in the case. Further, police say that they have matched the suspect’s DNA to a ski mask found at the scene of the crime.

Reporting on the suspect’s criminal record, Washington, D.C.’s NBC affiliate noted, “Public records show [the suspect] has a lengthy criminal history. He was arrested five times since 2019 and was convicted of carrying a pistol without a license, burglary and threats.”

The Washington Post elaborated, reporting,

D.C. police arrested [the suspect] during a traffic stop in 2019 and charged him with having an illegal firearm after finding a .40-caliber Glock loaded with 15 hollow-point bullets tucked under a sweater.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to carrying an unlicensed gun and was sentenced to probation, with a one-year prison term suspended. Those records show he violated the terms of his release and in 2020 was resentenced to six months in jail.

Authorities said that after his release, he continued to violate his release conditions, alleging that he failed to report to the probation office, among other issues. A hearing on those violations is scheduled for July 18.

Washington, D.C.’s FOX affiliate shared more details on a pair of 2022 incidents involving the suspect, reporting,

In May 2022 [the suspect] was charged after getting into a shootout with a neighbor and in August 2022, he was arrested with making threats of bodily harm to a 7-Eleven employee. He was convicted in March 2022 and released.

In the shootout case, investigators say an unregistered Ghost Gun was used. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. essentially dropped charges against [the suspect] after his attorney argued [the suspect] fired at his neighbor in self-defense. Charges were dropped in June, but a trial date had been set for July 10 — five days after Emerson was killed.

Targeting so-called “ghost guns” was purportedly so important to Mayor Muriel Bowser that in 2020 the District of Columbia enacted “Emergency Ghost Gun Legislation.”

The recent episodes in St. Louis and Washington, D.C. make clear that decisions to push gun control have little to do with public safety. Gun control offers unscrupulous politicians and their supporters a way to deflect from the repercussions of their own woeful mismanagement while often targeting the constituents of their political rivals.

Colorado Newspaper Editorial Scores Bullseye on Gun Control

A Sunday editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette, reacting to a high-profile shooting incident last week in Auckland, N.Z., was on target when it stated, “Better control over known lawbreakers is likelier to forestall the next such tragedy than is another attempt to control guns.”

“Our state knows the pain of such seemingly random madness,” the editorial acknowledged, “so the incident was all too relatable. But it also offered a reminder of the limits of gun-control laws — repackaged nowadays in the U.S. as ‘gun safety’ laws — in curbing such violence. New Zealand’s crackdown on gun ownership in recent years obviously didn’t prevent this tragedy.”

In 2019, following a bloody attack on two mosques in Christchurch, N.Z., the government there cracked down hard on law-abiding gun owners. New laws forced gun owners to turn in—as part of a “buy back” which many have referred to as “compensated confiscation”—of thousands of firearms. As the Gazette editorial pointed out, those gun laws did not prevent last week’s shooting.

A man identified as Matu Tangi Matua Reid walked into a construction site, where he was employed, and opened fire with a pump-action shotgun, as reported by The Guardian. He killed two people and wounded several others including two police officers. He was found dead, possibly of a self-inflicted wound.

New Zealand authorities acknowledged Reid was on home detention but was allowed to go to work. He was doing time for a previous domestic violence offense.

The Gazette editorial was sprinkled with advice to Centennial State lawmakers, noting with no small irony how earlier this year, majority Democrats were congratulating one another for the gun restrictions they passed, including bans on so-called “ghost guns,” establishing a three-day waiting period on gun purchases, and raising the age for buying guns to 21 years.

“If only such measures could make a difference in heading off mass murder,” the Gazette editorial lamented. “If anything, they create a false hope.”

This is not a first for the newspaper in terms of going against the grain politically. Earlier, the Gazette published another editorial telling the Legislature to make fighting crime a priority.

Tennessee lawmakers standing firm on Second Amendment ahead of special session

Well, at least some of them are, and it sure looks like the opposition to Gov. Bill Lee’s “red flag” proposal is growing as we get closer to August 21st; the date when Lee says lawmakers will return to the capitol for a special session to respond to the Covenant School shooting in Nashville earlier this year.

Though we’re less than a month away from the start of that expected session, Lee has yet to officially call lawmakers back to the state capitol as his office works behind the scenes to garner support for his “temporary mental health restraining order”. Meanwhile, many Republican lawmakers are speaking out against the proposal, while still trying to provide some political cover to the governor himself.

About 100 people came out for a 2nd Amendment rally Saturday at the Enoch community building at the Henry County Fairgrounds to hear local and area GOP officials speak about the session.

… State Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon, seemed confident the state Senate won’t be moved by Lee’s gun law proposals, which many Republicans have likened to a “red flag law.”

“The Senate is never going to walk back our 2nd Amendment rights,” he said. “Some of the leftists want this. Governor Lee is not a leftist.”

State Rep. Tandy Darby, R-Greenfield, also was careful not to criticize Lee in general, but only on this issue.

“I respect him, but I’m not on the same page as the governor on this. This looks like a red flag law,” said Darby.

Darby warned that on Aug. 21, when the special session begins, “all eyes will be on Tennessee. There’s nobody else in session (across the country).”

State Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, who represents about a third of Henry County (Darby represents the rest), seemed unhappy a special session had been called at all.

“Some people think that, on August 21, we’re gonna solve all of Tennessee’s problems. No, we’re not,” Reedy said. “We’re just months away from our regular session, where we could have real in-depth conversations about this.”

Darby’s right that Tennessee’s special session will draw national attention, not only because even most full-time legislatures will be in recess when the session is slated to kick off in late August, but because of the topic at hand. Lee’s proposal for a “temporary mental health restraining order” isn’t going to be the only topic of discussion, and Democrats are expected to bring their own anti-gun bills to Nashville, including a more traditional “red flag” law, bans on gun sales to under-21s, and prohibiting the sale of so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

Those bills won’t go far in the Republican-dominated legislature, but there are clearly a lot of conservatives who are worried about the political cost of standing pat. That’s why we’re starting to see some alternatives to Lee’s proposal emerge, including one piece of legislation that I believe would offer a substantial improvement to the status quo while still protecting Tennesseans’ Second Amendment rights.  As we reported last week, Rep. Scott Cepcicky is proposing the state build nine new mental health facilities, each with 150 inpatient beds. That would almost quadruple the number of state-funded beds available for inpatient care, though at a price tag of nearly $500-million.

Cepcicky told the Tennessean newspaper that the outlay would be “a significant investment in providing opportunities for people to get the help they need in both inpatient, outpatient and long term care,” and he’s not wrong. Not everyone suffering from mental illness is a threat to the public or themselves (in fact, the vast majority of those diagnosed will never be accused of a violent crime), but they’re still suffering, and there’s an acute lack of care for those most in need of help. Cepcicky’s legislation, if approved, would mark a major step towards eliminating the crisis in mental health care in Tennessee, and could be an example for other states to follow.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Cepcicky’s legislation will be adopted, any more than Lee’s version of a red flag is guaranteed to go down in flames. Tennessee’s Republican majority are largely saying the right things now, but gun owners need to keep up their contacts and pressure for lawmakers to do the right thing if and when they return to the state capitol later this summer.

Making it easier for people to possess the means to defend themselves against armed criminals apparently puzzles the overeducated expert.

Homicides in Brazil at the lowest level in over a decade, report says

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian researchers say the number of violent deaths last year reached the lowest level in more than a decade, puzzling some experts because there has been an explosion of firearms circulating in the country in recent years.

About 47,500 people were slain in Latin America’s largest nation in 2022, said a report Thursday by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, an independent group that tracks crimes. Its statistics are widely used as a benchmark because there are no official statistics on a national level.

While the number of killings in 2022 was down 2.4% from the previous year, it remained roughly even with levels recorded since 2019. The last time Brazil had less violent deaths was in 2011, with 47,215 killings.

The fall in homicides has left many public security experts somewhat puzzled, as it has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of firearms held by Brazilians. Some studies have suggested that more guns circulating among the population lead to more homicides.

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San Francisco Backs Down, Tables Bill That Would Make Most of the City a ‘Sensitive Place,’ Ban Concealed Carry

From the CCRKBA . . .

The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors has backed down on a proposed ordinance that would make much of the city into a “gun-free zone” after the Second Amendment Foundation and California Rifle & Pistol Association promised legal action.

The proposal was championed by Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who essentially tabled the motion indefinitely, after bemoaning the 2023 Supreme Court Bruen decision, which is giving gun control proponents fits, while jarring the San Francisco Police Department to start issuing carry permits. She referenced, perhaps as a face-saving maneuver, proposed state legislation that may be adopted later this summer by lawmakers in Sacramento, as a reason to stand down on the proposed ordinance.

“This happened after CRPA and SAF sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors explaining why the planned ordinance would be unconstitutional,” said CRPA President Chuck Michel, a longtime practicing attorney and gun rights authority in California. “It is truly unfortunate that San Francisco politicians refuse to respect the Second Amendment and can’t accept the new legal reality that people have a Second Amendment right to carry a firearm in public.”

“As soon as we were advised of this proposal,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “we took action. This is not the first time we’ve had to stop extremist gun control in San Francisco. We successfully sued the city twice over attempted handgun bans, and won both times. We’re prepared to do it again, but our letter to the Board of Supervisors evidently has made that unnecessary.”

“Our warning to the Board of Supervisors was direct and left little room for doubt about our intentions,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The letter clearly explained why the proposal was bad policy, and would result in another SAF-CRPA victory. We also reminded the Board it should wait to see whether the state legislation is adopted and how it fares under litigation. That appears to have had the desired impact.”

U.S. Senate Quietly Adds Permanent Gun Control Law Into 2024 NDAA Authorization

Republicans and Democrats are reportedly working together to end the sunset provision on a law gun rights orgs call ‘a backdoor gun ban’

As Congress begins consideration of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Senate leaders are attempting to quietly slip in gun control legislation.

The discovery was made by the Second Amendment advocacy group Gun Owners of America, who combed through the text and found an amendment inserted into the bill that would indefinitely authorize the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988.

According to a version of the proposed NDAA bill dated July 13, the amendment introduced by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would end the sunset provision on the 1988 law, which criminalizes firearms unable to be detected by metal detectors and x-ray machines commonly used at airports.

Though the provision was introduced by a Democrat, gun rights organizations say that Republicans are also involved in the effort to permanently codify the gun control law.

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WDOC rolls out Restoration of Rights certificates

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (RELEASE) – The Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC) has begun accepting applications and evaluating discharging individuals on their eligibility to receive a restoration of rights certificate in the State of Wyoming.

The WDOC is able to begin this process due to a change in Wyoming Statute §7-13-105 that went into effect July 1, 2023, which allows individuals that are convicted as a first time, non-violent felon, to have their right to vote, along with the rights lost as outlined in W.S. §6-10-106 to be restored. The rights restored under W.S. §7-13-105 include the ability to be an elector or juror or to hold any office of honor, trust or profit within this state or to use or knowingly possess any firearm.

The WDOC is accepting applications by mail, by email or in person at the Central Office. For more information in regards to this process, please visit https://corrections.wyo.gov/restoration-of-rights. Senator Eric Barlow, who was the sponsor for the original bill, commented “I am thankful to those who supported allowing more folks who have fulfilled their debt to society to re-engage in the most foundational aspects of citizenship, including the right to hold public office, serve on a jury and exercise their Second Amendment rights. The Legislature recognized the importance of voting rights for these same folks several years ago and I was pleased to assist with that too. I appreciate the Department of Corrections for implementing this program in a timely and efficient manner.”

The Second Amendment Is The Great Unifier

We all want to protect what we love.

No matter your age, your background, your ethnicity, or your religious affiliation, there is one thing that we can all agree on: nothing is more important than protecting what you love.

Where we are divided is HOW we protect those things that are most precious to us.

People who ascribe to the anti-gun rhetoric and agenda, and who belong to groups such as Moms Demand Action (MDA), Everytown for Gun Safety, and Giffords Courage to Fight Gun Violence, all proclaim that saving lives is at the core of their mission. We all can applaud and agree on that. Life is precious. And each of us can name at least one life we want to protect.

But protecting what we love sometimes requires that good people stand against predators and murderers with the very tools that MDA, Everytown, and Giffords vilify: guns. People who understand that reality dedicate their own time, money, and energy to training themselves and others to be safe and responsible gun owners. This training and education is truly what will protect those you love.

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More judges trying their hardest to slow down what SCOTUS did to gun control laws.

Federal Judge Upholds San Jose Gun Ownership Tax, Insurance Mandate

San Jose’s first-of-its-kind gun ownership insurance mandate doesn’t violate the Second Amendment, according to a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman ruled against the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) last Thursday. She found the California city’s requirement that gun owners pay a fee to a yet-to-be-determined anti-gun-violence charity group and obtain insurance is constitutional. She ruled the regulations stand up against the Supreme Court’s new history-based test for gun laws and did not infringe on residents’ rights.

“The City has demonstrated that the Insurance Requirement is consistent with the Nation’s historical traditions,” Judge Freeman wrote in NAGR v. San Jose. “Although the Insurance Regulation is not a ‘dead ringer’ for 19th century surety laws, the other similarities between the two laws would render the Ordinance ‘analogous enough to pass constitutional muster.’

The ruling is a win for gun-control advocates who are looking for ways to restrict firearms even in the wake of 2022’s New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. It allows the city to continue to attempt to implement its unique requirements, which have been scaled back significantly from when they were first introduced. The decision also boosts the odds that lawmakers in states, such as New Jersey, who’ve sought to copy the restrictions might survive court challenges as well.

Judge Freeman, an Obama appointee, also ruled the gun ownership fee was not a tax for the purpose of California law and did not need voter approval because it goes to a non-profit rather than the government.

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Sen. Chris Murphy Targets Military Gun Owners In Defense Bills

It takes a certain amount of brazenness to put the responsibility of defending the nation on a young American and then, in the next breath, demand they forfeit those freedoms they are literally willing to die to protect.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is never one to disappoint, though. His latest legislative move is to put a target on the back of every service member as someone who cannot be entrusted to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Military members already sacrifice many of their freedoms to protect the United States. Sen. Murphy, who has never served a day in uniform, doesn’t think that’s enough.

Sen. Murphy thinks Second Amendment freedoms for those in uniform is, well, too much freedom.

Gun control isn’t anything new to Sen. Murphy. He’s made a career of attacking the Second Amendment and the firearm industry. That’s made him the darling of gun control groups but now he’s putting the Second Amendment rights of military gun owners in his crosshairs.

Sen. Murphy introduced an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which empowers our government to fund and support our nation’s military. As a “must-pass” bill, it naturally attracts thousands of amendments for pet projects every year. Most of those are ruled out of order, or not defense related, so they can’t be attached to the bill.

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Surprise, surprise, surprise

South Bend shooting numbers down despite permitless gun law

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Despite a statewide permitless handgun carry law being in effect for more than a year, South Bend officials say that the number of shootings in the city has gone down compared to previous years.

HEA 1296, passed on July 1, 2022, removed the requirement to have a permit to carry a handgun in the state of Indiana. The proposed law had city leaders up in arms before it was passed.

“We had a say, and we said it, but it fell on deaf ears,” said South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski during a 2022 press conference. “The police departments said it, the Sheriff’s Association said it, the state police have said it… Don’t do this, and what did they do? They did it.”

Even with requirements being repealed, all nine counties in our viewing area (Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, LaGrange, LaPorte, Marshall, Pulaski, St. Joseph, and Starke) have seen a small increase in active licenses.

According to data from the Indiana State Police, on January 1, 2022, all nine counties showed a total of 120,956 active licenses. Exactly one year later, the number of licenses increased by 3.2% to 124,869.

“As Indiana was already a ‘shall issue’ license state prior to enacting constitutional carry, I don’t believe the new law had any impact on law-abiding people who wanted to carry a concealed weapon legally,” said Terry Demaegd, a moderator for a local second amendment group.

Mayor James Mueller said that while shootings are down, they could be lower. He also adds that the lack of permit requirements makes it difficult for officers to stop gun violence in the first place.

“Now if [police] see someone carrying a gun in public, unless they have knowledge that that person is not allowed to carry it…that officer cannot go and intervene, does not have probable cause,” Mueller said.

DeMaegd added that education is important for gun owners.

“Groups composed of responsible gun owners have always stressed safety instruction, firearm training, and adherence to the law for both licensed or constitutional carry persons who want to carry a concealed weapon,” DeMaegd said.

Pierre Atlas is a senior lecturer at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI and has extensive experience working on the topic of gun culture in America.

“What the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department reported was a doubling of accidental shootings since the implementation of the permitless carry law,” said Atlas. “I think that goes to the point that, and this is my own interpretation, I think permitless carry facilitates irresponsible gun ownership. The carry license that Indiana had that ended last year served as a gatekeeper. You had to pass a criminal background check and give your fingerprints. So people who were prohibited persons automatically were rejected, and then they knew they were rejected.”

Despite the relaxed restrictions, other state and federal restrictions still stand in terms of who can and cannot possess a firearm.